Cloud Gathering
by E.I.G
Summary: The best flying type pokemon trainers test themselves by flying with their pokemon into storms.
1. Chapter 1

\- Part 1 -

Brian panted holding tightly onto his Pidgeot as the large pokemon collapsed on the ledge of solid cloud. The trainer smiled at the relatively solid ground and patted his starter. "We made it, the Great Shell Storm. Rumored home of a Rayquaza," he said rolling off the bird and onto the fluffy material. The two of them looked outward, where winds and rain were whipping by at a fast pace that was only held at bay by outcroppings of the more solid clouds they were now resting on.

For a while the pair simply rested from the ordeal of reaching the core of the massive oceanic storm. Just to get to the storm they had needed to book passage on a ship going through the area, use their teammate's psychic precognition to find the best time to attempt the trip, and setup in advance three different plans to get back to land afterwards. "Thanks Pidgeot, take a break okay?" Brian said getting up stiffly to return the pokemon, who gave a whistle in acknowledgement.

Moving further from the edge Brian began to inspect his surroundings. "Right, well getting here was the main goal. Now what should we do?" he asked his Xatu as he released him so that the Psychic type could get a better look at the location now that they were shielded from the harsh weather.

 _Sir, this material is quite valuable. We could get some quality equipment with the profits from this,_ the bird pokemon transmitted to his mind, failing to keep images of greed out of the process.

"Yeah, we can try and take some of it back," Brian replied with a sigh, "but I'm more interested in what we can find here. Is there a chance we will see the Legendary?"

The pokemon scratched at the clouds beneath his feet for a moment while turning and spending a moment looking upwards in a variety of directions. _The sun would help,_ he commented with a burst of annoyance at the thick clouds in all directions blocking quite a bit of the light of the day. _Hmm, I think that there is a gap between us and the most dangerous creature here. If that's her then she's on another cloud._ This was accompanied by an image of a gap between two clouds.

"Okay," the trainer responded noting how the avian's claws were working hard on the material, "Do you have any idea how to collect this stuff then?"

 _Should be simple enough_ , was the extent of the actual words in the Psychic's reply, but included in the projection was a vision of Brian's Aerodactyl using her powerful wings to sever a hunk of cloud.

"Alright, then we can have her handle that and store it for when we get back," he said getting ready to release the Rock type only to be interrupted by a short squawk.

 _Unfortunately this material does not seem to be one that can be transported that easily_ , Xatu replied with another vision, this one of all four of Brian's pokemon dragging a house sized block of cloud away from the storm.

This earned the bird a disappointed look. "Three things. One, Dodrio is not going to be much help with flying in this weather. Two, even if you and Aerodactyl tried to help we aren't getting that big a cloud through those winds safely. Finally, number three, we do not need to build a floating house just so we can travel and keep a bunch of extra stuff around at the same time."

The Psychic gave a huff at this reprimand sticking his beak in the air. _It would not become a house. We would sell most of it and then build a storage shed. The Argument could pull it for us while we're on the ground._ He then cautiously opened an eye and flinched slightly at his trainer's response to the nickname he used for the three headed pokemon. _I suppose we would have to find a calmer section to get that much out. Give me a bit to analyze the future and I'll see what we can do._

"Alright, I'll trust you with that as long as you can do it while we walk. I want to see more of this place," Brian replied checking over his bag and starting to move further into the caves of solid cloud. Xatu huffed again at the idea before following along with casual flaps of his wings.

After around an hour of fairly calm exploration among the clouds Brian began to feel strange. It started with a prickling sensation along his arms that soon spread to the rest of his body. _Sir?_ Xatu asked concerned as his arms began to change. The limbs grew a coat of brown avian feathers as they reshaped themselves into a pair of wings. The feathers continued down the limbs to coat his chest as it thinned slightly, and then extended up his neck replacing his hair with a similarly styled plume. His face pushed forward slightly as his lips and teeth melded together into a short beak. His legs also gained feathers traveling down to just before his ankles, where instead his skin changed to scales as his feet were changed into a pair of talons.

His clothing was also altered to some degree by the change, although the most notable aspect of this was the vanishing of his shoes and socks to leave his new talons resting on the clouds. The only other clearly visible change to the garments was the short sleeves of his shirt expanded in diameter while shrinking somewhat in length to allow for more movement of his new wings.

Stumbling slightly at the event Brian grabbed at a nearby wall of solid cloud with the feathered end of his left wing while his right one took hold of the strap to his pack. Blinking the trainer gave a wordless chirp of confusion before he was set upon by a terrified green and white bird.

"Brian, oh no. What's happening?" Xatu chirped with obvious worry. _Sir, are you okay?_ he then sent at the transformed human.

"Xatu?" the trainer said in a higher pitch than his natural voice. He looked over his right wing, noting that the end of it was holding the strap in a way he had previously seen the Psychic type hold things. "What the?" he chirped, blinking at the sound of the non-human words.

"What do I tell him?" Xatu asked himself aloud. "How can you explain turning into a bird?" The soft sounds were just barely audible to his trainer.

"I'm a bird?" Brian said more loudly taking his wing from the strap to try an feel his face. While there was little feeling from the edges of the feathers that brushed against his new beak there also wasn't the expected sensation of the skin on his face being rubbed by the stiff quills.

"Did I send that?" the Psychic type asked louder looking at his trainer, and becoming confused when he got a nod in return.

"Yeah, I think-" Brian started only to be cut off.

"I know that I didn't send that question, sir," the pokemon said strongly. "If you heard that then you are understanding me." A shudder went through the green feathers as he confirmed the results.

The trainer looked with wide eyes at his pokemon, and then looked over his body again this time flexing his talons and opening and closing his beak. "Okay, okay. This is a full team problem," he finally replied.


	2. Chapter 2

\- Part 2 -

Six beaks were pointed at the transformed trainer. Pidgeot stared blankly, seemingly unable to comprehend the events that led to this. Aerodactyl was interested and by far the calmest about the changes. Xatu had frozen in a predictive meditation with all his focus locked on Brian.

"This is so cool, now we can fly with him," Dodrio's left head said with a happy chirp, only to get a quick peck from her right head.

"No it isn't, he's become a freak and we'll get taken away," she told her other mind with annoyance and worry.

"Calm down," her central head interrupted. "We don't know what will happen yet." She turned to her left. "So no planning for flights that might not happen." Then set her gaze to the right. "Or panicking about threats that don't exist."

"They aren't going to take you away," Brian tried to comfort his team. "Even if this is some kind of permanent transformation I can still talk. I've even heard some rumors of disguised pokemon being trainers before, so I'd just have to be an obvious one."

"We do need to teach you to fly," Aerodactyl suddenly interjected. At this the fossil pokemon quickly became the new focus of the ring of beaks, but she simply sat there calmly letting her comment speak for itself.

After the moment of just staring at the Rock type became slightly awkward Xatu exited his precognition to comment. "Right, that isn't a bad plan. From what I can tell those are quality wings, so you should be able to fly at the level of myself or maybe even Pidgeot with a bit of work."

"You want another Flying type to help pull the cloud piece to sell, don't you?" Brain asked the bird dryly, earning a sheepish turn of the Psychic type's beak.

This seemed to be the thing to shake Pidgeot out of his stupor as the bird turned a harsh look to his green feathered teammate. "Sell? Is this another of your moneymaking schemes?" the massive avian questioned harshly. "Because if my best friend is stuck like this because of some curse you set off with that kind of thinking I'll make you wish we left you with those Ghosts."

"That is a point." "We are in a Legendary pokemon's house." "Maybe we should ask them why this happened?" Dodrio said in the almost connected sentences that indicated her three minds were in a clear agreement, starting with her right head, then her left, and ending with her central head.

"We will need to either teach him flight or make sure he can still ride one of us for that," Xatu said avoiding Pidgeot's gaze. "The only pokemon I can sense among these clouds at this time is definitely on a separate segment of this solid version. We will need to cross a rather large gap to reach them."

"There was a good sized area just a ways back, how much space will we need?" Brian asked somewhat excited at the possibility despite the negative side of things.

"Twice that game field you showed us a while back," Aerodactyl said calmly.

"Really? This will work then, it was a lot bigger than that," the trainer replied happily getting up to head to the site. "Let's get started. This way even if it does come to a fight I'm the only one of us tired from flying across this gap." The team somewhat reluctantly agreed at that idea, and followed along the somewhat stumbling walk of their transformed friend.

A short time after Brian skidded along the soft surface of the clouds to a halt some distance away from where he had started his third attempt. "Ugh, was that any better?" he called out to his team as they watched from one edge of the massive cavern of fluffy white material.

"You went too fast. Start off slower," Aerodactyl told him with the equivalent of a smile.

"Yeah, you need to figure out how to hold yourself up before you really try moving somewhere specific," Pidgeot said thoughtfully. "Start closer to this edge and just try and keep in the air. You'll probably drift some but we have room." The others gave chirps of agreement at this advice.

He quickly stood back up and moved to the edge of the area near his team and tried again. This time with a much slower flapping of his wings he managed to just barely get off the ground and hop forward a short distance. Giving a sigh he look over at his team.

"No, no." "Don't look upset." "That was great." Dodrio said to him seeing his disappointment. "You want to start with short hops like that." "They show you how far you get."

Brian nodded then tried again and again getting better at staying in the air and guiding his movements. After some time the others started to join in the attempts flying beside the altered human. The general mood of the team only improved as they worked with their trainer to get him able to take to the air himself.

"Okay," he started during his first real controlled flight around the massive chamber, "I think that I'd be fine with this being me now." He gave a chirping laugh. "Having a set of wings to take me places is why I'm a Flying type trainer after all."

"Quite literally at the moment, sir," Xatu commented as he flew alongside earning chuckles from the rest of the team.

"I'd say you are as ready as you're going to get. We should start trying to find a path to the Legendary now," Pidgeot commented as they all moved to land. 


	3. Chapter 3

\- Part 3 -

Looking over the edge Brian gave a whistling sigh of relief. "Looks like it is still calm between them." In front of him was a massive gap between two large masses of solid clouds with the raging storm just visible at the outer edges of the break.

"Are you sure you want to try this yourself?" Pidgeot asked looking over at the small cave-like holes in the formation across from them. "I can still carry you just fine."

"I think I've got it. Worst case you catch me before I hit that," the transformed human replied pointing a wing at the swirling winds below them past the lower edge of the clouds.

"Alright then," the natural bird said with some unease. The two looked each other in the eye for a moment before launching themselves off into the air.

Brian gave an excited chirp at being truly in the air away from anything else. With a couple of flaps and a glide he quickly made it half the distance across the gap. Looking around with wonder as he held himself aloft all on his own the trainer moved to alter course towards one of the nearby openings. With some reluctance he moved to one of the closest and landed, the whole trip barely taking any time. An instant later Pidgeot arrived next to him.

"That was quick," the trainer commented rather sadly.

"You did well for having less than a day's practice. I'd rather you didn't try to go through the storm yourself, but air that calm should be fine," the Normal type replied. "Now, get out our little miser so he can point us to this Legendary."

"He isn't that bad about money," Brian chastised his friend getting the pokeball out of his tightly secured bag.

"You generally don't hear most of it. I say let him ask about this latest plan of his," the larger bird said eying the sphere as Xatu was released.

"Are we across now?" the green bird asked looking back over the gap. "Sir, I could have made that in my sleep," he then said dryly.

"Yeah, a lot easier than I expected," Brian agreed surprising the Psychic. "Can we get to the legend from here?"

Xatu's eyes lost focus for a moment and he turned his head back and forth slowly. "Follow me."

The three avians moved relatively quickly through the cavernous clouds. Constantly empty chambers were starting to take their toll on their nerves as there was no sign that any other creature had been in this place. Xatu remained in the lead, but soon seemed to be using his precognitive visions to distract him from the surroundings. Pidgeot began to noticeably worry, but the starter insisted on remaining out of his own pokeball while they searched. Brian was growing nervous himself, but took the oppurtunity to learn how to better fly through the relatively narrow passages as it was slightly easier than walking in his new form.

After a good time spent traveling they began to feel a powerful energy in the direction they were heading. While there was no actual wind or heat the three could still feel something they could only describe as both at once. Soon after the growing feeling began to increase quickly enough that Xatu's predictions were merely confirming what they could all tell about their target's location.

"Are we sure about this?" Pidgeot finally asked as the sensation reached a point where the three were often checking their bodies to ensure they were physically fine.

"Hello? Is someone there?" a low but still feminine voice asked from far closer than the group expected. The three birds turned towards it and found a large reptilian face peaking out of the next turn in the passage. "Oh, visitors! Father's always said that I might get some. Hello!" the Rayquaza said with a smile wider than the wingspan of any of the group.

"Hello," Brian managed with a bit of fear. "I'm Brian and this is Pidgeot and Xatu."

"Brian? Did your trainer nickname you?" the Legendary asked looking him over. "And did they dress you- Oh!" Her eyes went wide and she looked around at the walls. "I'm sorry I forgot. My father told me how the hard clouds really like Flying types, so sometimes someone who touches it too much that isn't already one kinda turns into one."

"So it's the clouds that transformed my trainer?" the Normal type asked looking at the wall with a bit of a glare.

"Oh, don't worry. It will be fine. You just need to not touch it basically at all for around a day," the massive pokemon said nodding. "Sorry about it being everywhere here, but this stuff is far enough from land that father says only Worthy pokemon can reach it. So if you're here then you must be whatever 'Worthy' means." After a second she moved in close to the trainer. "So, can you tell me?" she asked them somewhat sheepishly. "Because I haven't been outside before to find out on my own, I've only just turned one hundred."

Looking at his pokemon Brian saw they were just as uneasy with the excited Legendary. "Well I guess it means you have to be able to prepare everything to get through the storm. We had to get a lot of things setup just to try."

"The flight itself was hard, between the wind and rain I nearly did not make it," Pidgeot confessed.

"We had hoped to see the rumored home to a Legendary pokemon, and to possibly get some proof of our success," Xatu contributed eying the cloudy walls.

"Proof? Like some stuff that shows you were here?" the Dragon/Flying type asked as the other two tried to send hidden glares at their teammate. "The only thing we really have is the cloud, and it's really hard to move when it gets too big. A piece that's only as big as me is heavy enough that I can barely move it in the storm." The three pokemon looked at the scale of the serpentine pokemon, who was easily larger than most houses they had seen on their travels.

"Xatu would like to take some of it with us," Brian said deciding to back up his pokemon to an extent. "But we would only want what we could manage. It was hard enough getting here in the first place, and there isn't anywhere easy to land nearby." The transformed human found himself blinking at how easy it was to think of himself also trying to land from their height. "We understand that it is your home, so if it is a problem we will have to leave with just memories of this trip."

"Oh, it's no problem at all. Honestly father has to take the stuff to an Articuno he knows all the time to get rid of it. It just builds up and we sometimes have to tunnel our way out. Why it was just a couple years ago that he made his last trip, that time was for three times his body!" she excitedly told them. "I cannot wait to be that strong."

"So, we can have some?" Xatu asked with sparking eyes.

"Sure! I can even help you figure out how much you can take," she replied before looking them over. "Do you think you can stay a bit though? I've never seen the ground or ocean before, and I'd love to hear more about them."

With some reluctance Brian nodded and moved to get his other two pokemon out. The Legendary was fascinated by the pokeballs and the sight of the two other pokemon. Although she did end up in a confused state after getting involved in an argument between Dodrio's three heads that seemed to subtlety shift in who was arguing for what as it went on. After some more discussion of basic things they had seen below the clouds the team found themselves quite hungry, and so they continued to tell the Dragon small stories of their travels as they ate from their stored supplies of dry food. As the day had grown late the Legendary Pokemon offered to have them stay the night, and given how tired the trainer and starter were from the days events the team quickly agreed. 


	4. Chapter 4

\- Part 4 -

Brian woke up to his team still sleeping not far from the massive form of the Rayquaza. The Dragon was watching them while curled into a massive coil at the far end of the chamber that she had let them rest in the night before. "You have to leave, don't you?" she asked sadly.

Confused by the sudden question the transformed human blinked at the Legendary. "Yeah," he confessed a bit unsure of her meaning. "Xatu can't teleport far enough for us to reach land. So we need to either fly hard to meet the boat we were on today, make the next boat the day after tomorrow, or meet up with a trainer with a Wailord who will be passing by tomorrow." He heard his team start to wake up from the sound of his conversation.

"What's up?" Pidgeot asked with a still sleepy look. "Is something wrong?"

"Rayquaza wanted to know when we needed to leave," Brian said rephrasing the conversation.

"So we can stay with the Legendary for a while?" Dodrio's left head said joyfully, fully waking her other two heads and starting a small argument between them.

"We might be able to get back to land all on our own with a big enough piece of the clouds here," Xatu said carefully while eyeing the walls.

"So, you could stay longer if you got enough of this stuff?" Rayquaza asked excitedly earning a happy look from the Psychic pokemon.

"A bit longer," the trainer replied strongly glaring at Xatu for his greedy intent. "We have some extra supplies with us, but if we don't make either of the boats we will need to use them to get back to land." At this the Legendary pokemon's expression became slightly unhappy again.

"I understand. Father has things he needs to do all the time. So I'm used to being left here alone," she replied turning away from them. "He says it isn't safe, because I don't know how to fight well enough yet." The Dragon gave a loud sigh at this. "I train with him when he's here, and do my best on my own, but since-" She cuts off and looks at the sky. "He worries for me," she finished after a moment.

"When is he going to be coming back?" Aerodactyl asked in a sympathetic tone.

"A month or two probably," she told them, then saw their surprised faces. "Oh, it isn't that long. He usually is gone for only four or five months at a time."

Pidgeot and Brian turned to look at each other, while Aerodactyl and Dodrio's middle head did the same. Xatu looked over the Dragon with interest and started to speak only to be cut off by his trainer. "I'm sorry, but I don't think we can take you with us without talking to your dad first," the transformed human said sadly.

"I know," she replied calmly although she looked to be on the edge of tears. "Let's talk about something else, I'd like to spend the time that you can be here doing fun things. Not sad ones."

The group made up a breakfast from their supplies and continued with the happier conversation from the day before about the various things they had seen on their travels. The tale of when Xatu fell for a Ghost pokemon's trap of fake coins was met with deep rumbling laughter. Dodrio's tale of a fearful time when she had been separated from the group for days, told in three slightly different ways depending on which head was talking, was met with empathy from the Legendary pokemon. Pideot told of his first days with Brian as the two began their journey, earning a surprised look from the trainer as the details of his starter's thoughts were made clear.

After all of these tales Rayquaza was inspired to tell about her own past. She started with a couple of stories about playing in the storm clouds with her parents when she was younger, before moving to the few times she had met pokemon that braved the storm to meet her father.

"So you've mostly met other Legendary pokemon?" Xatu asked as she finished a story of a nearby Lugia showing up to discuss something with her parents.

"Um." The nervousness they had all seen from the massive serpent was something they were still getting used to. "Well, they've mostly just been here to talk with my father. They show up, he introduces me, and then I can listen as they talk about the weather around the storm and any other major things that need managing."

"So they just chat about what the weather is like outside?" Dodrio's right head asked. "Seems like that would be a simple thing, its storming."

"Well, I guess father knows how to make it storm more or less and that is important to some stuff going on under the water and some places far away?" the Legendary explained questioningly. "I'm not really sure about that. I have enough trouble just making the storm calm down just in a little spot on my own." The clarification that it was a discussion of altering the weather of the monstrous storm quieted the group for a moment. Rayquaza looked thoughtfully at one of the exits to the chamber they were inside. "I probably should be practicing some actually," she said with embarrassment.

"Would you mind some company?" Brian asked looking at his own pair of wings. "I kinda want to keep working on how to use these while I have them." His pokemon looked over their altered trainer reminding themselves of his changed form.

"Oh, right! You don't normally have wings," the Legendary replied with a smile. "It must be interesting having wings to fly with," she continued twisting her form.

"Oh yes, it's really nice for him to be able to fly with us," Dodrio's left head chirped. "It means he can't fall off anymore," her right head said earning a glare from both her other heads.

"I'd love to have someone working along with me for once," Rayquaza interrupted now having a better idea of how to avoid the budding argument.

"And maybe we could see how hard it is to move some of this cloud?" Xatu asked.

"If we are taking any back with us I for one want to know how tough it will be," Pidgeot noted. "Considering that I'm the one who had to fly here in the first place."

The team followed the Legendary pokemon back through the tunnels to the gap they had crossed before. Brian did not wait to launch himself into the open sky and begin to explore his capabilities. Pidgeot gave a sigh and moved to keep close enough to catch him if there was a problem. Xatu convinced Aerodactyl to cut a piece of the solid clouds off to test its weight, and then immediately afterward cut a smaller piece from it as the original ended up too heavy for the two of them to pull even together. Rayquaza took turns going out into the storm itself to practice her own moves and enjoying the company of the others as she tried to help them with their work. 


	5. Chapter 5

\- Part 5 -

In the end Brian decided to wait for the second boat, much to Rayquaza's delight. His personal reasoning was to get his own flight good enough to at least help pull the chunk of cloud along with his team. Dodrio mostly wanted to have more time talking to the Legendary pokemon, two out of three heads agreed. Pidgeot was more than willing to help his trainer, but was wary of having him use wings he had not even possessed for a week in the monster of a storm. Xatu was torn, on one wing wanting to get his prize back to the ground as soon as he could, but on the other wanting to make sure they got the most they possibly could down there. Aerodactyl's thoughts were unknown to the others, although she seemed delighted to help her trainer out and to speak with the Dragon/Flying type.

After the second night spent with the serpentine Legend the team reluctantly prepared for their return to the world below. Brian returned Dodrio while Rayquaza was helping to secure an old climbing rope they had cut and tied to the selected mass of clouds. It had been decided after some careful testing that the four remaining members of the team should be able to pull the car sized mass of clouds through the winds if they worked together, and much of the prior afternoon was spent discovering the need to have the rope to accomplish that task.

Aerodactyl and Pidgeot were going to be taking the two outer edges as they were the most robust of the Flying types present. The two were getting ready at the two ends of the cloud by looking over the swirling storm in an attempt at finding a path that would be safest to attempt to get to the edge of the storm.

Xatu and Brian would be side by side on the inner portion, and as a result were more needed for pulling power while the other two would steer the formation. The cloud had been shaped in a bowl in case something went wrong so they could hopefully be caught within the arc and have a somewhat safe location to try and figure out a solution using their knowledge and precognition.

"Okay," Brian chirped from his rope. "I think we're just about ready."

"It was nice to meet you," Rayquaza said looking away from the group. "Are you sure you don't want me to take you back out there?" she asked with some worry.

"We made it here on our own, I want to make it back that way," the trainer replied getting a chirp of agreement from Pidgeot. "You're already letting us take some of this stuff, and I want to earn it," he continued earning a touch of annoyance projected from Xatu despite the stoic look on the green bird.

"Okay. I don't really understand that, but I know it means something to you," the Legendary said somewhat sadly. "But if something goes wrong I am going to go after you. We're friends now, right?" she asked a touch hopefully.

"Of course we are," Aerodactyl said with such a calm tone that everyone could simply tell that she spoke the truth.

"I feel much better knowing that my new friend is there in case my trainer gets into trouble," Pidgeot contributed with a nod.

"It would be an honor to call you my friend," Xatu said quietly.

Brian looked at the happy expression on the massive pokemon's face and gave a happy chirp. "We'll try and come back sometime," he told her seriously.

They all got ready to pull the ropes, giving an experimental tug to both get their timing right and a feel for the weight. In the calm air the mass of cloud was rather light, any one of them could actually move it on their own, but the storm was more than bad enough to merit working together with the fairly small load. "Everybirdy ready?" the trainer said jokingly earning laughter from all present before they gave affirmative chirps. "Let's go!"

The team flapped together, although given the different sizes of each of them they did not remain in synchronization as they continued forward. Aerodactyl began to brace herself for any rain within the whipping winds they were approaching, while Xatu found a rhythm to both pull alongside the others and search the future for problems at the same time. Brian and Pidgeot had been through the storm before, and although they were not one clinging to the other they still both knew what to expect.

The four continued accelerating towards the edge of the calm gap. Once they crossed that threshold the sudden blast of wind sent the group sliding sideways through the air. Brian found himself flapping hard with stinging eyes as the harsh wind tried to send them spiraling around the core of the storm. Looking to the side he saw Pidgeot pulling strongly on the edge of their little cloud that was in the direction the winds were traveling, they had decided his powerful wings were best suited to trying to keep them straight by having that edge moving further forward than the other one.

Aerodactyl gave a harsh hiss audible over the winds. _Down! Now!_ Xatu transmitted, and the group pulled downward quickly and then moments later they felt something large pass over them. _Left!_ This time a cracking blast of lightning was just beyond their position. _I owe you so damn much Pidgeot!_ he then sent less as a series of words and more as an accidental impression.

Brian could not laugh at this, as his full focus was on holding the rope in his talons and pushing through the winds with his wings. For minute after minute they flew onward, occasionally one falling back as rogue winds shifted them slightly requiring them to recover their stability. As time passed they slowly felt the storm grow less extreme, although the change was just barely noticeable and offset by their increasing fatigue.

When there was a sudden increase in brightness Brian felt a touch of relief. "This is it, just a little further!" he cried out in an avian screech. The four of them barely could hear this over the gale, but nevertheless powered forward more strongly at the sound. Going all out the team pulled, ropes straining at the weight.

Then, suddenly, they were outside the storm. The four of them shot forward for a moment as they realized the change, slowing at different speeds and briefly sending the mass of cloud spinning as they worked to stop it.

"We did it!" Xatu shouted. "We made it through that nightmare!" He then practically fell onto the solid cloud and began to pant. "I am never doing that again."

Aerodactyl was the second to land, and immediately began to check over her soaked wings. "I would prefer to be in my pokeball when we travel back," she said calmly before collapsing to rest on the fluffy platform.

"That was easier to try the second time, but I'm going to let the Rayquaza handle moving this stuff around," Pidgeot chirped landing with some more stability compared to the others.

Brian found a spot for himself on the cloud and then looked at the edges of his wings in wonder. "I did it," he said disbelievingly. "I actually did it!" he cheered before giving a happy series of wordless chirps.

"I would say that you have," a deep voice rumbled from behind them all. "When I planned this whole challenge I honestly did not expect the trainer to be one to fly themselves out of my storm."

The four exhausted teammates turned around, and found themselves facing another Rayquaza. The Legendary Dragon in front of them this time was far larger than the other they had met, with a head twice the width and the end of his tail far enough away that they could not see it as his body curved around the storm.


	6. Chapter 6

\- Part 6 -

"I must admit, humans being changed by my clouds is rare enough for me to have not even considered it," the gargantuan serpentine pokemon continued in a calm tone. The new Legendary chuckled deeply at their faces and began to move in closer.

As the four shuffled backwards away from the approaching pokemon there was the faint sound of rushing air. "Wait!" they heard from a familiar voice. "Father, they're ok! It's fine!" the younger Rayquaza cried out quickly moving between the small cloud and the larger Rayquaza. "Don't be mad at them, I let them take it," she said with clear worry.

"Take what?" the older one asked confused. "Are you talking about the cloud? My little Starshine, why would I worry about them taking a bit of the cloud?"

"Because it's worth money, and Xatu was being greedy to get it, and Brian only thought that he could have some if he went through the storm, and it was scary because they could barely fly there, and-" she was cut off by the return of the deep rumbling laugh from her father.

"Starshine, there is no problem with them having some cloud to sell. Although I believe the trainer was more looking for a challenge than trying to pay for anything." A massive eye looked happily at Brian. "Although he did earn my respect three times over." The smaller Dragon moved to curl around the cloud holding her new friends as the larger dragon looked them over. "He proved himself capable of finding and reaching our home. You should be able to tell that is an impressive feat, as seeing them return from it has given you some idea how hard it is for others to move through our storm." She looked to the swirling winds with consideration. "He has also just now bested them again, beyond my expectations by doing so with his own two wings." Brian could not help but stand taller with pride at the acknowledgement of the Legendary pokemon.

"However, most impressive of all is that he met my wonderful daughter, and treated her kindly without anything to gain but friendship," the father announced with a wide smile at the others. "I have hoped for such a trainer," he continued earning a surprised look from all of them. "I fear that with all the duties I must tend to I do not have the time I truly need to teach you all you need to learn about fighting my Starshine. So, I decided that any trainers who made it to our clouds would be tested by myself to see if they were Worthy of aiding you in my stead."

"So," his daughter started thoughtfully. "So if they can pass a test then I can go with them? What's the test going to be?" she then asked excitedly even as Brian's beak fell open at the declaration.

Another deep laugh echoed from the Legend. "I already said he had more than earned my respect. I can think of little that would test them more than that trip through the clouds, and even then I am confident they would achieve it well enough."

Collecting himself some the trainer finally interjected into the conversation. "Thank you very much Rayquaza. I'm honored that you would consider me for such a thing," he began. "I am also a bit worried about how safe I could keep your daughter. I would not like to put my new friend at risk because of a lack of skill in battle, and a Legendary pokemon draws a lot of attention," he continued while digging nervously at the ground with his talons.

"I am well aware of how difficult it is for normal pokemon to reach my home young one. That you made it there at all means your team is strong enough for many of the threats I fear, and that you had the knowledge to accomplish that feat means you can give my Starshine the skills to face them as well. After all, what I seek is for her to learn to use her own power against such threats," the elder Rayquaza stated. "So do not worry about such things, and decide on your own feelings."

The younger one, his new friend, looked on with a mix of hope and worry. "In that case I would be glad to have you on the team Rayquaza," Brian told her.

"Yes! Oh, yes yes yes," she said shooting forward to curl tightly around her father. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The trainer moved to his pack and retrieved an empty ultra ball. "Is this going to be fine?" he asked. "I don't really have any better-" As he knocked on the sphere with his wing there was a clicking sound that cut him off. In an instant he was covered with light and vanished into the pokeball, which fell to the ground and shook slightly.

"Brian?" Rayquaza said worried and uncurled from her father.

"What just happened?" the deep voice of the massive serpent pokemon asked as the ball shook again.

"Xatu, I'm blaming you for this," Pidgeot said dryly to the Psychic type.

"What did I do?" the green feathered pokemon asked with alarm as it shook a third time.

"You didn't foresee this, which is your whole job by the way," the Normal type commented just before a loud click sounded from the sphere.

Aerodactyl moved closer and tapped the button with the point of her beak. Immediately the ball opened and Brain appeared in a show of light. "Did I just catch myself?" he asked confused.

"I believe that you did," the elder Rayquaza said with a touch of worry. "Is that going to be a problem?" the ancient pokemon asked concerned.

"Well, I'm going to leave with a full team," Brian said calmly. "At least as long as it didn't turn you off joining?" he asked the smaller Legendary.

"I'm not too sure I can trust you to stay safe on your own," she said earning some giggling from his team. "So I want to go with you even more now." She smiled and moved closer. "And if you have another of those I think it will be fine."

With a nod the trainer opened the bag and retrieved another ultra ball and held it out to her. The large serpent tapped it with her snout and disappeared in much the same way he had moments before.

Then spilled out again with the sound of cracking crystals. Everyone present blinked at this turn of events. "I had thought this would go more smoothly," her father said almost quietly.

"I'm guessing I need to not panic so much?" she asked embarrassed.

Soon after, two new filled pokeballs secured in his bag, Brian pulled the small mass of cloud in the direction of the course the second boat would be taking. His attempt to breach the Great Shell Storm had succeeded, earning him new friends and proving his skills as a Flying type trainer quite thoroughly. 


End file.
